Eli Lilly profits fall
Written on January 31, 2009
Eli Lilly and Co reported flat fourth-quarter sales Thursday and said earnings fell on charges related to its acquisition late last year of biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker posted a loss of $3.63 billion, or $3.31 per share, compared with a profit of $854 million, or 78 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
Excluding special items, including charges of $4.73 billion related to ImClone, Eli Lilly (LLY, Fortune 500) earned $1.07 per share. Analysts on average expected $1.05 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Global sales of $5.21 billion were little changed from a year earlier and below analysts’ average forecast of $5.39 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Sales would have risen 3% if not for the stronger dollar, which lowers the value of overseas sales.
Sales of schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, the company’s biggest product, fell 10% to $1.15 billion on continuing lower demand in the United States. Sales also declined overseas, where the product previously had shown strength.
Zyprexa has been hurt by generic competition in Germany and Canada and concerns the pill causes weight gains that can increase the risk of diabetes.
The drug is expected to face U.S. generic competition in October 2011. Lilly hopes an experimental blood clot preventer called prasugrel will soon by approved by the Food and Drug Administration and produce blockbuster sales that can help offset expected plunging sales of Zyprexa cheap pay day loans.
A federal advisory panel of doctors on Feb. 3 will review prasugrel, which has cut the risk of blood clots in clinical trials but raised the risk of dangerous bleeding. The FDA has twice delayed a decision on the medicine.
Lilly earlier this month agreed to pay $1.42 billion to settle criminal and civil allegations that it improperly dispatched thousands of sales representatives to nursing homes in order to market Zyprexa for dementia. The drug is not approved for that condition. The company plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor.
Fourth-quarter sales of depression drug Cymbalta jumped 15% to $721 million, helped by its recent new approved use to treat fibromyalgia. Sales of cancer drug Alimta, another of Lilly’s growth drivers, jumped 31% to $319 million.
Sales declines were seen for a handful of Lilly’s other important medicines, including cancer drug Gemzar, Strattera for attention deficit disorder, and osteoporosis drugs Forteo and Evista.
Lilly stood by its forecast for earnings per share this year of $4 to $4.25, excluding special items. That would mean growth of 5% to 11% from 2008.
Lilly shares rose 1 cent to $39.10 in light premarket trading.
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